Anyone ever use a "Chassis Tech" custom I beam kit to lower your F100?? Ford Truck Guy

 

sorry to hijack, im looking to lower my father inlaws 78f100 and ran accross these. im wondering how they are http://store.summitracing.com/default.asp?target=egnsearch.asp&N=115+400323+3110 75&autoview=sku

 

Those look very nice!! I will be checking out to see how they will work on my application. I will let you know what i find. Thanks Again, FTG

 

Checked out the DJM web site. This looks like what I was needing. Thanks FTG

 

DJM is marketing through Summit Racing. Same stuff as always. These are the same beams I got through AIM and put on my 66. Price is a smidgen lower but not that much. The tie-rod relocaters work but look like something from an old Flintstone cartoon. The finish work is primitive and surely not something for a high quaility presentation. Summit is great on delivery though. The positive thing is that this indicates the popularity of Slick ford pickups is definitley on the upswing.

 

i was thinking about doing the same...or would drop spindles be easier? benefits/disadvantages? thanks

 

I thought the DJM "Dream Beams" were made with round tubing and the AIM/Chassis Tech drop I-beams were made with welded together pieces of flat plate. From the looks of that picture and what DJM now shows on their website, it looks like they are now some sort of rectangular tubing. Anybody know why they changed? If you click on the "tech" section of the Ford part of their (DJM) website you still see the round tube style beams. (Also in the section about how the "dream beams" are made you see the round tube style.) Maybe the rectangle tubing is an improvement I don't know. Anyone have any insight into this? I have talked to about 20 or so people who have used drop beams on their trucks and from what I can gather, the DJM pieces are the way to go. From what I've been told the AIM/Chassis Tech beams are almost impossible to get in alignment and they are fairly easy to bend. Again, this isn't coming from me (as I'm not that far along on my project to actually try either drop beam on the road) this is from guys who have actually used them on their personal trucks. I was going to try the DJM pieces on mine when the time comes and probably still will but the change in appearance had me curious as to why they had changed.

 

I used the AIM beams which are not the tubular design. The DJM beams are of tubular design but not for the early trucks with king pins as far as I can determine from the online catalogue and a very similar to the AIM units. The AIM beams are very heavy and from my eye at least, very strong. The welding of the beams themselves is substantial. The section at the end of the beam that accepts the kingpin is a one piece unit of what looks like laser cut 3" stock or so. I don't see how they could be more susceptible to bending over the stock Ford beams. If you have an affinity for jumping curbs at speed or attacks by major potholes any of them will bend at some point. I haven't had trouble with alignments but I wonder about the increased weight of these heavier ends adding to an already heavy front end. I have maybe 7000 miles on mine without trouble. Just keep the king pins lubed and if you have disc brakes AIM recommends grinding off about 3/4" where the spindles hit the beam on full lock turns. This will keep the turning radius at stock dimensions or be ready to make extra wide u-turns. Hope this helps.

 

The guys at DJM didn't tell me I would need the relocators. This is my first F100 build. Will I need these for sure? Thanks FTG

 

how did you lower the rear? just swap the springs?

 

I have taken out 3 leaves of each rear springs and installed the rear shackle kit from AIM for now. I was going to do the front shackle kit but it is a labor instensive job. Looked at mono leaf springs and became wary about safety issues if the spring breaks while driving. I am in the process of swapping in a new C6 from Broader Performance to replace the Cruiso. The C6 is supposed to be delivered this afternoon. I want to replace the rear axle assembly with the wider later model version and will tackle the spring deal then.